Electric motorcycle hits 190 MPH

Posted April 24, 2011 - 10:38
by
Aaron Colter, EarthTechling

Chip Yates, the racer and designer of a 240 horsepower, 400 pounds of torque electric motorcycle, is claiming that his vehicle is the world’s fastest, having reached a top speed of 190.6 miles per hour.

Yates’ speed was clocked at the Mojave Mile, a speed trial competition in Mojave, California on an airstrip just over two miles long.

According to the race, the fastest motorcycle ever hit a mark of 251.1 miles per hour.

Yates says his bike is the most powerful electric racing motorcycle being developed in the world, runs off a patent-pending kinetic energy recovery system, and that the team has no plans to try and develop a production model.

The electric motorcycle is equipped with a 500 amp liquid-cooled electric motor controller, a lithium-ion battery, and is based on a Suzuki GSX-R750 frame.